Trigger type compressed air gun having a piston with air valve and air valve actuator



px'l 23, 1968 F. WALTHER 3,379,188

TRIGGER TYPE COMPRESSED AIR GUN HAVING A PISTON WITH AIR VALVE AND AIR VALVE ACTUATOR Filed Deo. 9, 1964 /N VEA/TOR.'

United States Patent O 3,379,188 TRIGGER TYPE COMPRESSED AIR GUN HAVING A PIS'IN WITH AIR VALVE AND AIR VALVE ACTUATDR Fritz Walther, Wetter-Steinweg 4, Ulm (Danube), Germany Filed Dec. 9, 1964, Ser. No. 417,107 Claims priority, application Germany, Dec. 12, 1963, W 35,815 6 Claims. (Cl. 124-13) The instant invention relates to firearms and more particularly to `a compressed air weapon having an air compressing cylinder and a piston reciprocally mounted within said cylinder by means of a lever system, wherein the lever system compresses the captured air when cocking, thereby enabling a trigger device to trigger the shot, said device consisting of a trigger member and an overliow valve coupled therewith, through which the compressed air enters the barrel.

In a compressed air gun of the type described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 205,134 dated June 25, 1962, assigned to the assignee of the instant invention, there is described therein a piston which is pivotally coupled to a cocking lever system and is moved within an air-tight cylinder. A single cocking lever motion from the upper dead center position toward the lower dead center position draws air from the atmosphere at a substantially constant rate. Through a second cocking lever motion which, conversely to the first motion, moves the lever from its lower dead center position into its upper dead center position, the piston becomes arrested through the cock-lever system and stores the compressed air within the air-tight cylinder 4and `a communicating channel leading from said cylinder to an air overflow valve which seals the compressed air until the shot is triggered.

Compressed air guns of this type have the advantage of a high degree of precision with regard to the accuracy of firing and a highly uniform firing capability, the energy propelling the projectile being substantially equal for each shot. This is achieved to a great degree by the fact that, upon triggering of the shot, no parts of substantial mass except the trigger mechanism are moved, yas is the case with most of the compressed air guns of the prior art.

In the interest of the same objective of the above described compressed air gun, the instant invention further proposes that the valve which selectively seals the over- {iow channel communicating with the compressed air cylinder and the barrel has its valve shaft protruding into the action track (i.e., normal path of movement) of a striker member which upon squeezing of the trigger and under the effect of a striker plate spring, the striker plate is urged against the valve shaft (or against the element connected therewith), thereby lifting the valve shaft together with its valve head to open the air overow channel. By employing a striker member to strike the valve shaft (or some element connected therewith) an extremely accurate triggering of the shot is achieved `and is, in fact, performed totally independently of the manner in which the trigger is squeezed. By squeezing the trigger, this pivots a trigger sear, thereby releasing the striker member. Thus, no direct or indirect mechanical connection exists between the trigger and the air overow valve in order to lift said valve.

In accordance with the instant invention, the striker member is preferably disposed so as to be substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the compressed air cylinder and is coupled to a lever system, and is provided with a first end which protrudes into the path followed :by the piston rod of the piston in the compressed air cylinder for the purpose of being engaged by the piston rod at one point of its travel in order to tension the striker mem- 3,379,l88 Patented Apr. 23, 1968 ber spring biasing means. The piston rod is provided with -a nose thereon for engaging said striker member.

The striker member is restrained from coming under the control of the firing pin spring means which is in its fully charged position so las to lift the overflow valve shaft by means of a pivot-ally mounted catch-latch which latches the striker plate with one of its ends while a second end thereof abuts the trigger sear. The catch-latch, which preferably is designed as a double-arm lever, has one of its ends abutting the trigger sear, and has a lug near its center which protrudes into the path of the striker plate, while the other end protrudes into the tract of a curved sector provided in the striker member, whereby, upon lowering -of the striker member the catchlatch is pivoted so that one of its ends releases the trigger lug enabling the trigger lug to swing back to its dead center position after the shot has been fired.

Furthermore, in accordance with the invention, in the compressed air gun described herein, the valve which activates the triggering of the shot is contained within an air overow channel which is designed in such a way that a chamber containing the valve head of the valve has its axis substantially at a right angle to the overliow channel, which also means that the valve head shaft assumes the same position. The chamber is closed by a threaded plug, which, firstly acts as the counter-bearing for a valve spring, and secondly, fills the inner space of the chamber to such an extent that the dead space in the chamber is being kept to a minimum, in order to obtain the most favorable transfer of the highly compressed Iair from the inner space into the barrel. The valve head is preferably cone-shaped and has its conical shaped surface resting upon a gasket consisting of resilient material disposed at the bottom of the chamber, said gasket preferably being toroidal and having a circular cross-section. The chamber is preferably inserted from the outside into the body of the gun. The chamber, which opens to the exterior of the weapon is covered with a cap after being inserted into the weapon so that the exterior surfaceof the gun is substantially smooth.

The compressed air gun of the present invention is further provided with `a barrel which is pivotally mounted at a stationary point and it latched in its closed position by means of a barrel-blocking bolt, which occurs due to the force-locking effect of the blocking bolt device. The blocking bolt has two beveled surfaces and is urged against -a stationary lug by the force of a compressed spring, whereby said bolt, in its locked-barrel position, is locked beneath the stationary lug.

The spring which acts upon the barrel-blocking bolt is designed to be strong enough so that at a specific pivoting position of the barrel the barrel-blocking bolt, because of its two bevelled surfaces, has its lower bevelled surface urged against the stationary lug, thereupon completely releasing the barrel so as to be tilted open. Since the spring in such cases should not have more than a certain force, it is not capable of pulling the barrel into the correct and desirable position if the latter is not properly tilted back, which is partly due to the short lever arm relative to the barrel tilting axis. If, however, a stronger spring is used, too much force must be applied -to tilt the barrel open. To avoid this disadvantage, it is one object of the invention to provide a spring behind the barrel-locking bolt which is sufficiently strong to provide a satisfactory pressure on said bolt in order to insure that the bevelled surface of the barrel-blocking bolt adjacent the stationary lug may pull the barrel into its desired position, even if the barrel has not been tilted back properly. In order to be able to tilt the barrel open, a pivotally mounted pull rod is coupled to the barrelblocking bolt and has its free end hinged to a pivotally mounted manually operable angle lever, which is preferably arranged below the barrel in the region in front of the tilting axis thereof, i.e., toward the muzzle face, so that by means of a manipulation the barrel-bolt may be simply and quickly released and the barrel tilted back by thumb pressure against the angle lever, in order to permit the placing of a projectile into the projectile chamber.

In summary, it is therefor one object of the instant invention to provide a compressed air weapon having improved operating capabilities.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a compressed air weapon having novel means for triggering each shot.

Another object f the instant invention is to provide a compressed air weapon having novel means for triggering each shot wherein the weapon trigger is not mechanically linked directly to the compressed air weapon valve means.

Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a novel compressed air weapon having a spring loaded striker member arranged to be released by a -trigger assembly for unseating a valve means wherein no mechanical coupling direct exists between the trigger assembly and the valve member so as to insure a very accurately metered shot regardless of the manner in which the trigger is squeezed.

Another object of the instant invention is to provide a novel compressed air weapon having a tiltably mounted barrel and barrel jacket and being further comprised of novel barrel locating means for insuring that the barrel is in the fully closed position.

Still another object of the instant invention is to provide a novel compressed air weapon having a tiltably mounted barrel and barrel jacket and being further cornprised of novel barrel locating means for insuring that the barrel is in the fully closed position, said locating means being further provided with a manually operable lever arm to facilitate tilting of the barrel to the open position for the loading of a projectile into the weapon.

These and other objects of the instant invention will become apparent upon consideration of the ensuing specification and drawings, in which:

The sole figure shows a longitudinal cross-section of a compressed air pistol designed in accordance with the principles of the instant invention.

Referring now to the drawing, the sole gure shows a compressed air piston having a stock which provides support and securement for an air compressing cylinder 12. A piston 13 is reciprocally mounted within cylinder 12, and is movable up and downwardly under control of a piston rod 14 coupled thereto, in order to successively draw air into kthe cylinder and subsequently compress the air in cylinder 12. In the upper part 15 of the stock is air overflow channel 16, having a first port 16a connecting the tapered end 12a of cylinder 12 to valve chamber 62 and a second port 16b connecting the rear end of barrel 17 to valve chamber 62.

Aligned in the axial direction, parallel to cylinder 12 and preferably between cylinder 12 and the triggering device 21 is a member 23 which is reciprocally mounted within a jacket 22, defining a striker chamber. The member 23 hereinafter designated the striker member, is provided with a retracting bar 24 having a lower, bent over, end 25, extending into a slit 12b in the lower part of cylinder 12 and further extending into the path of nose 14a provided at the upper end of piston rod 14. Striker member spring 27 is wound about bar 24 and has a first end abutting stop block 26, while the upper end of spring 27 abuts striker member 23, urging it upwardly.

The striker member 23 has a curved surface 28, which cooperates with the lug 29 at the lower end 30 of the catch-latch 31, the catch-latch 31 being a double arm tripping lever pivotally mounted to weapon 10 by bolt 32. The upper end 33 of the catch-latch 31 has a blocking lip 34 which is positioned with its lower edge against the upper edge of the striking member 23.. Another blocking lip 35 integral with the tripping lever bears against one end 36 of trigger sear 37, thereby bracing catch-latch 31 through its upper end 33.

Protruding into the effective range of movement of striker member 23 is the piston shaft 38 which is struck by member 23 when member 23 is released from the influence of lip 34 and urged against valve shaft 38 by spring 27, thereby lifting shaft 38 together with its valve head 39.

Immediately upon the ring of a projectile the compressed air pistol is readied for the next shot in the following manner: Cocking lever 19, which is pivoted to stock 11 by bolt 18, is rotated around bolt 18 in direction of the arrow A, whereby said cooking lever 19 in connection with a lever system not shown in detail and located in the lower end of stock 11, moves piston rod 14 downwardly as shown by arrow D. Piston 13 draws in air during its downward movement into the inner space of the cylinder 12. During this downward movement of the piston rod 14, nose 14a abuts the striker end 25 of rod 24 and pulls the end 25 and thereby rod 24, as well as striker member 23, downward. Thereby, lug 29 makes sliding contact with curved surface 28 of striker member 23 to rotate the lower end 30 of catch-latch 31 in the clockwise direction. Simultaneously therewith upper end 33 of catch-latch 31l positions its blocking lip 34 over the upper edge of striker member 23. This allows trigger sear 37 to move behind stop lug 35 at the extreme end of catch-latch 31 in the manner as shown in the figure, thus preventing trigger sear 37 from pivoting to the rear (i.e., clockwise about its pivot pin 70). The upper end 33 of catch-latch 31 braces itself against the end 36 of trigger sear 37. During the upward movement of piston 13, the air in cylinder 12 is compressed by piston 13. The nose 14a on piston rod 14 releases the striker member rod 24 and thereby the striker member, during the first part of the upward movement, to move upwardly under the force of spring 27, until the member 23 has its upper edge abutting the lower end of blocking lip 34 on catchlatch 31 thereby arresting further upward movement of member 23. Upon further upward movement of piston rod 14 and piston 13, the blocking lug 14a frees itself from engagement with the bent-over portion 25 of the striker member pull rod 24.

As rocking lever 19 is being pivoted back from the open position toward the position as shown in the drawing, piston 13 is arrested in its upper dead-center posit tion by the lever mechanism (not shown) and the compressed air contained in the upper region of cylinder 12,`

as well as in air overow channel 16a and in the valve chamber 62 in which valve 39 is located, is available for the next shot.

In its cocked position, barrel 17 contained within barrel jacket 17a is blocked yby means of a blocking bolt 41, said bolt 41 being located in the lower part 17a' of jacket 17a and being substantially parallel to barrel 17. Bolt 41 is movable along its axis and is guided between the two jaws 17a' and 17b. Blocking bolt 41 has an upper tapered surface 43 which abuts a pin 42 arranged in jacket 17a. Bolt 41 is urged against pin 42 by a powerful spring 44. A pulling member 45 is coupled to bolt 41 which, in turn, is linked to manually operable angle lever 47 by means of bolt 46, said angle lever 47 in turn being mounted so as to be pivoted about bolt 48. Angle lever 47 has a knurled surface 49a at its activating end 49 which is positioned in front of bearing bolt 50, which tiitably mounts barrel 17 and its jacket 17a between a pair of jaws (not shown).

In order to introduce a new shell into the shell chamber at the rear end of barrel 17 prior to firing a shot, the rear end of barrel 17, respectively, jacket 17a must be tilted upwards, i.e. in the direction of arrow C and respectively, the front end of barrel 17 and jacket 17a must be tilted downward. To enablethis operation, however, the blocking mechanism must be released, which can only be accomplished by thumb (or finger) pressure exerted in the direction of arrow B upon the knurled surface 49a of the activating end 49 of angle lever 47. Rotation of lever 49 in direction B eectively moves pull lever to the left against the pressure of the relatively powerful spring 44. Blocking lug 41 is also moved to the left due to the coupling 45a between pull lever 4S and lug 41. Thus, blocking lug 41 has its slanted surface 43 released from the stationary bolt 42, thus permitting the barrel to be freely tilted to the open position. Slanted surface 51, which is located below slanted surface 43 of the blocking bolt 41, may be arranged at a sufliciently steep angle, so that, when closing the barrel, the blocking bolt is automatically pressed back due to the sliding engagement between surface 51 and pin 42. The slant of surface 43 of blocking bolt 41 is so designed that when taking into account the power of the spring, a secure cocking of the rear end of the barrel onto a resting surface, which may be adjustable if desired, is assured, in order that the barrel in its closed position is always in the same position in relation to the stock. The barrel 17a makes an air-tight coupling with the stock 11 -by means of a resilient sealing ring 71.

In order to tire the compressed air pistol 10, the trigger 52 is squeezed, i.e., moved in the direction of arrow 74. Pressure point bolt 53 mounted on the trigger 5-2 thereby presses against the intermediate trigger latch 54, which in turn ybears against the front end 55 of trigger sear 37, thereby pivoting sear 37 clockwise about pin '70 causing the rear end 36 to release the stop lip 35 mounted upon the upper arm 33 of catch-latch 31. Striking pin spring 27 is now free to release its stored energy urging striking member 23 upward to urge blocking lip 34 and hence catchdatch 31 counter-clockwise about pin 32. Lip 34 moves out of the path of striking member 23 enabling member 23 to be rapidly moved upward and to strike the lower end of the valve shaft 3S, thereby lifting valve head 39 from the gasket piece 61 in chamber 62 to provide a path between ports 16a and 16h of the air overflow channel 16. Thus the air compressed `by the piston 13 is free to flow into barrel 17 in a rapid burst and propel the projectile (not shown) out of the barrel. Valve chamber 62 is made air-tight by means of closing plug 63 which also serves as a counter bearing for valve spring 64. The head of closing plug 63 is provided with an indentation 65 which receives and iirmly engages the arresting prongs 66 of covering lid 67.

While only one preferred embodiment has been described herein, it is also possible to apply the device of the instant invention to other compressed air guns, even though a corresponding embodiment thereof is not specically shown, since one with ordinary skill in the art would have no difficulties in applying the described and illustrated design in connection with a compressed air pistol to other types of compressed air guns (i.e. rifles). The trigger device according to the invention can be arranged to be parallel to the barrel longitudinal axis, or it may, as in the case of the pistol, be arranged at a predetermined angle to the barrel axis with the axis generally being located, for instance, in t-he pistol grip of the gun butt. In the case where the trigger device is arranged parallel to the barrel longitudinal axis and the compressed air cylinder is located below and co-axially to the barrel-axis, the ring pin of the trigger device may be equipped fith an angularly aligned control surface, thereby in turn lifting the valve in order to open the compressed air overow valve shaft which lies at a right angle or approximately at a right angle to the direction of motion of the ring pin.

Although there has been described a preferred embodiment of this novel invention, many variations and modifications will now be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, this invention is to be limited, not by the specic disclosure herein, but only by the appending claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive privilege or property is claimed are defined as follows:

l. A compressed air weapon comprising:

a barrel;

a compressed air cylinder;

a piston and piston rod reciprocally mounted within said cylinder;

a cocking lever system for controlling said piston, said piston being mounted to compress air captured in the cylinder when said lever system is in a cocked position;

trigger means for triggering a shot, said trigger means comprising a pivotally mounted trigger;

a valve chamber connecting the compressed air cylinder with said barrel;

said piston rod being pivotally connected with the cocking lever system for compressing air in said cylinder by first drawing air into said cylinder during an intake stroke and then compressing the air drawn in during a compression stroke;

valve means being positioned in said valve chamber between the compressed air cylinder and the barrel, said valve means having a irst end that is struck by the striker;

a striker member positioned adjacent said valve chamber being moved in a first direction when said piston is drawing air into said chamber and being moved in an opposite direction when said piston is compressing air in said cylinder;

spring means biasing said striker member toward said valve means first end;

a pivotally mounted catch-latch member having a rst end slidably engaging said striker member during the air intake stroke to pivot said catch-latch member to engage and restrain said striker member against said spring means;

said trigger means normally abutting a second end of said catch-latch member to hold the catch-latch member in its restraining position and being further adapted to release said catch-latch member when said trigger means is squeezed to unlatch said striker member;

said catch-latch member is rotated by the action of said spring means to release said striker member to strike said valve means first end and lift the valve means rst end together with its valve head to open the valve chamber and thereby allow the compressed air to move rapidly from its cylinder to said valve.

2. The compressed air weapon of claim 1, in which said striker member is disposed to experience reciprocative movement along a line substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the compressed air cylinder;

said striker member having a irst end protruding into the path of said piston rod;

said piston rod having a protruding nose engaging said Istriker member during the intake stroke to compress the striker member spring means;

said striker member being arrested against the effect of said striker member spring means in its remotest position from the valve chamber by said pivotally mounted catch-latch member.

3. The compressed air weapon of claim 1 wherein said valve chamber receiving the valve head of the valve means, has its longitudinal axis aligned substantially at a right angle with the overflow channel coupling said valve chamber to said piston cylinder;

said valve chamber being sealed by a threaded closing plug;

valve spring means positioned between said valve head and said closing plug for retaining said valve head in the seated position;

said closing plug substantially filling the dead space of the valve chamber.

4. A compressed air weapon as claimed in claim 3 wherein the threaded closing plug is disposed in an indentation in the body of the weapon and which partially tills the indentation for sealing said valve chamber;

the remaining unfilled portion of said indentation being lled by a closing lid which is releasably secured to said threaded closing plug.

5. A compressed air Weapon as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

a pivotally Imounted barrel;

barrel-blocking bolt means being axially movable;

spring means for urging said bolt means in a first direction;

an angle lever;

a retracting lever having one of its ends pivotally coupled to said angle lever and being disposed in the vicinity of the barrel pivot point to facilitate manual release of the barrel-bolt in order to tilt open the barrel.

6. A compressed air weapon comprising:

a barrel;

a piston chamber having a pistou mounted for reciprocating movement therein;

a valve Chamber connecting one end of said piston chamber to one end of said barrel;

a valve member mounted for reciprocating movement in said valve chamber;

bias means normally urging said valve member to a seated position in said valve chamber to seal-off said piston chamber;

operating members including a piston rod for moving said piston during an intake stroke to ll the piston chamber with air and for moving said piston during a compression stroke to compress the air captured between the piston and the said piston chamber one end;

a striker chamber positioned adjacent said piston chamber;

a striker member mounted for reciprocating movement in said striker chamber;

said striker chamber having a iirst end communicating with said valve chamber and a second end communicating with said piston chamber;

said valve member having one end thereof protruding into said striker chamber when in the seated position;

second bias means in said striker chamber normally urging said striker member toward said striker chamber first end;

a retracting member having one end secured to said striker member and a second end projecting into said piston chamber;

said piston rod having a nose engaging said retracting member during an intake stroke;

latch means;

said striker member having a cam surface engaging said latch means and causing said latch means to latch said striker member in the charged position during said intake stroke;

manually operable trigger means including third bias means to cause said latch means to latch the striker member in the charged position;

said striker member being released, when said trigger means is operated, to unseat said valve member enabling the compressed air in the piston chamber to be released into said barrel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1/ 1922 Fairweather 124-13 8/1931 Miller 124-13 6/1960 Merz 124-11 

1. A COMPRESSED AIR WEAPON COMPRISING: A BARREL; A COMPRESSED AIR CYLINDER; A PISTON AND PISTON ROD RECIPROCALLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID CYLINDER; A COCKING LEVER SYSTEM FOR CONTROLLING SAID PISTON, SAID PISTON BEING MOUNTED TO COMPRESS AIR CAPTURED IN THE CYLINDER WHEN SAID LEVER SYSTEM IS IN A COCKED POSITION; TRIGGER MEANS FOR TRIGGERING A SHOT, SAID TRIGGER MEANS COMPRISING A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED TRIGGER; A VALVE CHAMBER CONNECTING THE COMPRESSED AIR CYLINDER WITH SAID BARREL; SAID PISTON ROD BEING PIVOTALLY CONNECTED WITH THE COCKING LEVER SYSTEM FOR COMPRESSING AIR IN SAID CYLINDER BY FIRST DRAWING AIR INTO SAID CYLINDER DURING AN INTAKE STROKE AND THEN COMPRESSING THE AIR DRAWN IN DURING A COMPRESSION STROKE; VALVE MEANS BEING POSITIONED IN SAID VALVE CHAMBER BETWEEN THE COMPRESSED AIR CYLINDER AND THE BARREL, SAID VALVE MEANS HAVING A FIRST END THAT IS STRUCK BY THE STRIKER; A STRIKER MEMBER POSITIONED ADJACENT SAID VALVE CHAMBER BEING MOVED IN A FIRST DIRECTION WHEN SAID PISTON IS DRAWING AIR INTO SAID CHAMBER AND BEING MOVED IN AN OPPOSITE DIRECTION WHEN SAID PISTON IS COMPRESSING AIR IN SAID CYLINDER; SPRING MEANS BIASING SAID STRIKER MEMBER TOWARD SAID VALVE MEANS FIRST END; A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED CATCH-LATCH MEMBER HAVING A FIRST END SLIDABY ENGAGING SAID STRIKER MEMBER DURING THE AIR INTAKE STROKE TO PIVOT SAID CATCH-LATCH MEMBER TO ENGAGE AND RESTRAIN SAID STRIKER MEMBER AGAINST SAID SPRING MEANS; SAID TRIGGER MEANS NORMALLY ABUTTING A SECOND END OF SAID CATCH-LATCH MEMBER TO HOLD THE CATCH-LATCH MEMBER IN ITS RESTRAINING POSITION AND BEING FURTHER ADAPTED TO RELEASE SAID CATCH-LATCH MEMBER WHEN SAID TRIGGER MEANS IS SQUEEZED TO UNLATCH SAID STRIKER MEMBER; SAID CATCH-LATCH MEMBER IS ROTATED BY THE ACTION OF SAID SPRING MEANS TO RELEASE SAID STRIKER MEMBER TO STRIKE SAID VALVE MEANS FIRST END AND LIFT THE VALVE MEANS FIRST END TOGETHER WITH ITS VALVE HEAD TO OPEN THE VALVE CHAMBER AND THEREBY ALLOW THE COMPRESSED AIR TO MOVE RAPIDLY FROM ITS CYLINDER TO SAID VALVE. 